I’ve never been a huge concert go-er. Half of the bands and artists I listen to are no longer around, they don’t have a tour stop in Vancouver or when they do come to Vancouver, the tickets are way too expensive and the worst of all, 19+ venues. But as of the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of seeing three different concerts. They’ve all been different venues, crowd sizes and genres. I think that there’s a lot of value in seeing live music. Hearing your favorite songs live, seeing your favorite bands live, meeting fellow fans, getting concert exclusive merch and more. Especially the concert exclusive merch, tour shirts with the dates and locations are some of my favorites. I love seeing concerts though. It leaves you with such a good feeling and even if you don’t see concerts that frequently, it’s a huge treat when you actually get to see them. If I’m seeing a concert, I like to plan ahead and get my tickets the minute they come out but occasionally, I don’t. All of my concert experiences have been vastly different so I’m going to talk about them. I’m going to talk about the bands, the venues and the overall experience.
The first concert I saw this summer was Alanis Morrissette and Garbage. This was technically the 25th anniversary tour. It was supposed to happen back in 2020 but was postponed due to COVID. I didn’t actually plan to see this concert. It wasn’t even on my radar. While I don’t actually listen to either of these artists, I’m a Canadian so I’ve heard Alanis Morrissette on the radio a million times. A friend offered me the ticket and honestly, who passes up a free concert ticket? Especially one to a concert like this. This concert was held at Rogers Arena and we were in the upper top right of the arena. The view was great and while Rogers Arena can be a bit of a weird venue, it was amazing in this case. This was my introduction to the band Garbage and I fell in love after their first song. They were amazing, they had a great set list, they were super high energy and it was the perfect band to open things up. Alanis Morrissette was insane. The tickets weren’t cheap but they were worth every cent. She was pretty good onstage, her live singing was amazing and because it was the 25th anniversary tour of Jagged Little Pill, that’s mostly what her setlist consisted of. I loved this concert. The crowd was super lively, everyone was singing along and it was an overall amazing experience.
Mitski was up next. I signed up for the presale and was sitting on the bus, card in hand trying to buy my tickets. I was seeing this concert no matter what. This concert was held at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. I’ve actually been to this venue before back in 2016 to see Panic At The Disco and Weezer. I find that this a really good venue, despite being an open venue, the sound is amazing. I got to this concert EARLY. Like 6 hours early and even then, I was nowhere near the gates. People camped out for this concert and with good reason. Mitski is a performer. I wasn’t at the barricade but I had a pretty good view. The opening band was Hurray For The Riff Raff and they were pretty enjoyable although I’d say their sound vs what was to come didn’t really fit. Mitski put on an amazing show. She had really unique and cool choreography and when she was on stage, all eyes were on her. Her stage presence is like you wouldn’t believe. She commanded every inch of that stage and her singing literally had me in tears. This concert was part of the Laurel Hell tour but she played a fairly good mix of her older and her newer works. She played two of my absolute favorites (Francis Forever and A Pearl). She also had a ton of her really popular songs on there like Me And My Husband, Washing Machine Heart and I Bet On Losing Dogs. The crowd however is my only sore spot with this concert. It definitely skewed a lot younger and there was a severe lack of just basic concert etiquette. I also think that despite this being a stellar experience, with Mitski’s performance style, it would’ve worked better at a sit down venue. It was still, however, a really good, worthwhile experience.
The most recent concert I saw was Marlon Williams. I had been flip flopping on tickets for a while, they were only $30 but I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to see him that badly. The show started at 9:00pm and I bought my tickets at 2:00pm that afternoon. It was worth literally every penny. I would’ve paid more than I did, the show was just that good. This was held at Hollywood Theatre and it was a good venue. They had tables and an open floor space. I managed to get to the stage for this show and it was awesome. The opener, Merk, was just a really fun guy to watch perform. His music was really good and a great introduction to his work. He had a few upbeat songs, a few slower songs and he was great onstage. I also got to meet and take a selfie with him after the concert and he was a super sweet guy. The main act, Marlon Williams, blew all my expectations out of the water. He was beyond words. It’s one thing to listen to his recorded songs, it’s another thing to hear him live. His voice holds so much power and soul. He was really fun to watch onstage and there was a lot of audience interaction. Everyone was dancing, singing along and it was a really great time. This was part of the My Boy tour, named after his newest album and he had a fair amount of material off this album while also using tracks off his older albums. He played Dark Child which is by far my favorite song by him. I sobbed probably throughout the entire song, the video I have of that song has me crying in the background. Towards the end of the concert, during the encore, I actually got to hold Marlon Williams’ hand and I got the set list which was just, the cherry on top of the entire experience. This concert was just amazing and was probably the best concert I’ve ever seen. If there’s any artist to see live, it’s gotta be Marlon Williams.
While I haven’t seen that many concerts, the ones I have seen have been super amazing, worth every cent and insanely memorable experiences. Whether you plan months in advance or decide mere hours before, get out and see some concerts!